DoorDash Review: A Decent Way To Earn Extra Income

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In the past, full time employees and students would take jobs delivering pizza to earn a few extra bucks.

Today, you can deliver for almost any food chain by becoming a “Dasher” or a driver for DoorDash. Is becoming a Dasher the right side hustle for you?

We’ll explain the basics, explain average earnings, and how you can hack the system to earn more.

How Does DoorDash Work?

DoorDash is a food order delivery service. Customers place an order at one of dozens of restaurants, and then they agree to a delivery fee and tip. The app then pushes orders to “Dashers” who are logged into the app.

Once you accept an order, you drive to the restaurant, place the order, bring the order back to your car and deliver it to the customer.

All the directions for the delivery are inside of the DoorDash app.

How You Get Paid: Delivery Fee + Tips

As a Dasher you get to keep 100% of the delivery fee, any boosts and the customer’s tips. DoorDash makes money by charging restaurants a percentage fee of every order.

As a Dasher, you not only need to keep an eye on your bottom line, you need to be sure that you’re creating value for everyone involved. That means, you need to keep an eye on your customer rating. Every customer rates you on a scale of one to five stars; better and faster customer service usually yields a higher rating.

You also need to keep close to a 100% completion rating. That means if you accept a job, you need to complete it. Failing to complete a delivery could mean you’ll lose your job as a Dasher.

Finally, you’ll need to keep an eye on your acceptance rating. The acceptance rating is the percentage of jobs you take relative to the number of jobs DoorDash offers to you. While you need to be strategic about maxing your earning potential, you’ll may need to take subpar jobs from time to time just to keep DoorDash happy.

What Costs Do You Cover?

As a Dasher, you have to pay for all your business expenses. That includes data for your phone, gas, car insurance, wear and tear on your vehicle, and both sides of self employment tax.

If you decide to become a Dasher (or a driver of any kind) be sure to install an app like Everlance to keep track of all your expenses.

How Much Can You Expect To Earn?

Since DoorDash only operates in large metro areas, most Dashers don’t need to put tons of miles on their car to earn a decent income. Rates really depend on how many miles you have to drive, the size of your orders, and how quickly you can complete orders.

On the website, DoorDash advertises that you will earn between $15-$25 an hour. Most drivers who post videos to YouTube claim that they earn between $7-$10 per delivery, and they average 2-3 deliveries per hour. Of course, when you’re just learning the ropes, you may have some trouble figuring out how to maximize your deliveries, so you might earn closer to $9-$10 per hour at first.

How You Can Earn WAY More Than Average

While most people earn just a little extra cash driving for DoorDash, some drivers earn $40 or more per hour. Here’s how they do it.

Only accept large orders- DoorDash ranks you on your acceptance rate, but they won’t stop you from driving without a warning first. Feel free to be picky about your orders, and find the largest orders. DoorDash customers tip based on a percentage system, so you want the biggest orders possible.

Avoid high traffic areas- Traffic slows you down, and it makes parking nearly impossible. Try to avoid orders from the “heart of downtown” where it’s tough to figure out where to meet someone. You never want to pay for parking, because that will eat most of your profits.

Drive during peak activity- Lunchtime and dinnertime offer great opportunities for Dashers. Don’t bother working if nobody is ordering.

Use multiple apps- Successful gig economy workers don’t rely on a single app for their income. Become certified as an Uber, UberEats, Lyft, Postmates, and DoorDash driver, so you can guarantee work any time.

Should You Become a Dasher?

Driving for DoorDash is a decent way to earn some cash on the side. It’s nice that you can use some business savvy to boost your bottom line (unlike some of the other gig economy apps).

If you’re looking for a part time job that you can do on your own schedule, DoorDash fits the bill. I would still prioritize work on your main career above a side job like DoorDash, but it’s one of the better ways to drive and earn.

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About Robert Farrington

Robert Farrington is America's Millennial Money Expert, and the founder of The College Investor, a personal finance site dedicated to helping millennials escape student loan debt to start investing and building wealth for the future. You can learn more about him here.

One of his favorite tools is Personal Capital, which enables him to manage his finances in just 15-minutes each month. Best of all - it's free!

He is also diversifying his investment portfolio by adding a little bit of real estate. But not rental homes, because he doesn't want a second job, it's diversified small investments in a mix of properties through Fundrise. Worth a look if you're looking for a low dollar way to invest in real estate.

Comments

Great idea but sounds like this could be improved by optimizing the handoff from restaurant to driver.

Perhaps the app could allow drivers – once they accept an order – to provide a restaurant ETA, with the order being pushed to the restaurant in advance of arrival, with the goal being to get the driver out the door as fast as possible once they arrive at the restaurant.